


i hate the homecoming queen (i'm pretty damn sure she can't stand me)

by levbian (chemicalpixie)



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Clove is a Jock Glimmer's the Prom Queen, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Homecoming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-08-22 18:42:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16603454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chemicalpixie/pseuds/levbian
Summary: ““what, did your barista forget to give you a sugar free mocha?” clove snaps, unable to resist the urge to insult her a little bit.“actually, it’s a frappe,” glimmer says, with the hint of a smile on her face. clove rolls her eyes, crossing her arms across her chest. it’s official — glimmer rosenthal is the worst.”or; junior year has been the worst year of clove morrow’s life. so it just stands to reason that the day she’s late to her morning class is the day that mr. crane assigns partners for their upcoming project. and of fucking course glimmer rosenthal is her partner.





	i hate the homecoming queen (i'm pretty damn sure she can't stand me)

**Author's Note:**

> anyway i got this idea this morning in 9 am math when i had emily osment's “i hate the homecoming queen” stuck in my head. which is odd since i haven't listened to it since like 2011, but i digress. and then i got this done in one afternoon because i needed a break from my now 14.6k and not yet finished enobaria fic and i've been really digging gracie's panem high, and i needed a cute clove/glimmer enemies to lovers fic.
> 
> title comes from (you guessed it!) emily osment's “i hate the homecoming queen”. also please comment if you liked it i want validation on this very self-indulgent fic.

“sorry i’m late,” clove says, rushing into class with her bag over her shoulder. she’d overslept, her alarm going off ten minutes before the first bell. she’d rushed her morning routine to get to school at any semblance of “on time”. not that she has a morning routine, per se, it’s more just showering after she gets done with her morning run and throwing her hair up and pulling something vaguely clean off of the pile of clothes on her floor. she stops short when she reaches her seat towards the back of the classroom, finding it already occupied by peeta mellark. sitting next to him is clove’s usual seat-neighbor, katniss everdeen, who looks less than thrilled about the whole situation.

“ms. morrow,” mr. crane says. “how nice of you to arrive.” clove turns around, dreading whatever he’s going to say next. he’s already got that smirk on his face that clove has learned from experience means he’s going to do something that all his students hate. “since everyone else has already been assigned their partner, it seems - ” he’s cut off when the door opens again, and this time glimmer rosenthal strides in, her heels clicking on the floor. she’s wearing a high-waisted pink skirt and a pair of heels that clove is certain she’d fall over in, and carrying a cup of coffee. 

“my apologies, mr. crane,” glimmer purrs, and clove resists the urge to roll her eyes. glimmer rosenthal. the school’s it girl. clove holds the seemingly unpopular opinion that she’s nothing more than hot, vapid, and annoying. her best friend cato, on the other hand, is infatuated with her, much to clove’s own irritation. 

“what, did your barista forget to give you a sugar free mocha?” clove snaps, unable to resist the urge to insult her a little bit. 

“actually, it’s a frappe,” glimmer says, with the hint of a smile on her face. clove rolls her eyes, crossing her arms across her chest. clove hates her. even the fluorescent lighting doesn't make her look bad. it's official — glimmer rosenthal is the worst.

mr. crane clears his throat. “if you ladies are done,” he says. “then i’d like to finish assigning partners for the end of the semester’s project on the literary merit of a book of your choosing. as i was saying, all of the partners have been assigned, except for the two of you.” he smiles again, and clove realizes what he’s doing, and wants to puke. “so it only stands to reason that the two of you are going to work as partners.”

“can’t i work with cato?” clove pleads, her mind rushing as she tries to figure out any way out of this. “or finch?” she’s worked with finch a few times. she’s brilliant, which means clove will have minimal work over the course of this semester. she can be a bit shy, but honestly, anything is better than glimmer fucking rosenthal.

“i’m afraid not,” mr. crane says, gesturing to where cato is seated, and clove notices, with dismay, that thresh haywood sits next to him. “mr. haywood is his partner. and, as you can see, ms. kellan’s partner is mr. calvert.” clove looks over towards finch’s usual seat and sees that she’s sitting next to a really tall kid. clove vaguely recognizes him as the kid who was in a car accident back in elementary school and ended up with a permanent limp. “and i’m not in the business of re-assigning partners just because someone doesn’t like theirs.”

clove huffs, taking the seat in the front next to glimmer that’s usually occupied by marvel, who is across the room seated next to marina. marina’s wringing out her hair from morning swim practice as marvel watches her with a dopey grin on his face. clove has no idea how the fuck marina is so oblivious to marvel’s crush. whatever. it’s not like it’s _her_ problem.

“looks like we’re partners,” glimmer says, holding out her hand for clove to shake. clove doesn’t. for a moment, it looks as though glimmer’s facade cracks, and her smile twists into a frown. but when clove looks back, she looks bright as ever.

“looks like it,” clove huffs, her arms crossed across her chest. she knew when her alarm went off forty-five minutes late that she shouldn’t have gotten out of bed today.

//

“so, when should we get together to work on the project?” glimmer asks. she’s multitasking, which even clove has to admit is impressive — she’s holding one conversation with clove, another with whoever she’s been texting, and walking down the crowded hallway. though that last one doesn’t quite count, because everyone parts like they’re the fucking red sea and glimmer is moses when they see her coming. a hot moses. whatever. clove never claimed to be an expert on moses. 

“i’ve got practice every night after school,” clove says. she’s not lying, she does have practice. she just doesn’t mention that it usually ends at seven. 

“okay,” glimmer says. “sunday?” she pauses, then looks up from her phone with a smile. “oh, we could go out for brunch. i love brunch.”

clove scoffs as she tries to think of an excuse to get out of sundays. she quickly realizes she can’t. “sure, fine.”

glimmer shoves her phone at clove, and clove almost drops it in her surprise. “give me your address. i’ll pick you up.” clove enters her number and address into glimmer’s phone, and hands the phone back to her. “i’m here,” glimmer says, leaning on the doorway into the french classroom. “see you later,” she adds, before disappearing into the french classroom with a short wave. 

clove scoffs. “i _hate_ her,” she says to cato, who’s caught up with her now that glimmer’s gone. 

“yeah, but she’s hot,” cato says, running one of his hands through his blonde hair. clove slams her trigonometry textbook lightly into his chest. or. well. it would be his chest, if he was closer to her height. instead, it hits his stomach. cato looks mildly betrayed by this, and clove just glares at him in response.

“you’re the worst,” she snaps. “if you had to work with her, you wouldn’t be saying that.”

“she’s not that bad, clove,” calla pipes from behind her, tucking a long strand of dark hair behind her ear. “she seemed like she was being pretty nice to you.”

clove rolls her eyes. she loves calla, they’ve been friends since they joined kindergarten league soccer together, but calla just doesn’t get it. she sees the best in everyone, no matter the circumstances. “you don’t get it,” clove protests. “glimmer is objectively the worst.”

calla holds up her hands in mock defeat. “whatever you say, sister.”

//

the next day in class, mr. crane announced they will be sitting next to their partners for the rest of the semester. clove reluctantly picks up her books and moves across the room. glimmer applies her lipstick while staring at herself in a hand compact. 

“so what book should we do?” glimmer asks. she doesn’t take her eyes off her makeup.

“the great gatsby,” clove says, half-listening to her and half-glaring at cato, who is across the room and seems to be having an enjoyable conversation with thresh. she can also see peeta eagerly asking katniss everdeen questions. katniss looks, frankly, miserable. at least i’m not the only one, she thinks.

“i love that one,” glimmer says, her eyes bright. if clove didn’t know better, she’d think glimmer put something stronger than caffeine in that coffee. the fact that she doesn’t almost makes it worse, clove muses.

clove slumps down in her seat, and mutters, “of course you do.”

//

glimmer picks clove up for their study session, and she drives to a brunch restaurant clove has never seen before in her life. clove orders nothing but black coffee — honestly, she got out of bed before noon for this, glimmer should be grateful for that much — but after an hour and a half of clove’s sullen, one word answers to glimmer’s questions, glimmer shuts her notebook with a snap. clove smirks on the inside. she can do her part in the project on her own. there’s no reason for her to meet with glimmer for it other than glimmer not wanting to read the book or whatever the hell.

“let’s go,” glimmer says, and takes her credit card back from the waitress. clove nods in agreement — she can’t wait for this to be over — and the two of them head outside to glimmer’s golden mini cooper. 

“i’m sorry,” glimmer says, as they reach the car, breaking the silence. clove almost blinks. if she didn’t know better, she’d think glimmer was giving her a genuine apology.

“for what?” she asks, with almost a scoff. she gets into the passenger seat and glimmer gets into the driver’s side. she sticks the key into the ignition but doesn’t start the car.

“i know you didn’t want to work with me,” glimmer says, voice low. “i didn’t mean for us to be partners, i swear.” there’s something deeply lonely in her voice, and clove blinks again. this can’t be happening. she hears sniffles and realizes that glimmer is crying. 

“it’s...okay?” clove says. she doesn’t quite know what to say, exactly. she never thought she’d see glimmer rosenthal crying in her car. she reaches over and pats glimmer lightly on the shoulder. it's very uncomfortable. 

“no, it’s not,” glimmer half-wails. “you hate me!” she pauses, sniffling again, and then says, “it’s okay. i know everyone does,” she sighs, tone sounding a bit more resigned. clove watches as glimmer takes a breath, blinks the tears from her eyes, pulls down the shade and reapplies her rose-pink lipstick. “there,” she says, tone sounding significantly brighter. “ready to go?”

clove stares at her. “um. what the fuck just happened?”

glimmer starts the car, looking over at clove as she does with a frown. “forget it,” she says, tone harsh. “it doesn’t matter, anyway.” she starts driving, her eyes on the road and her mouth a hard line. 

“because it seems to me,” clove says, hesitantly. “that you just had a mental breakdown.”

“i said,” glimmer says, clutching the wheel so tightly her knuckles are white, “forget it, okay?”

clove puts up her hands. “i mean, sure, if that’s what you want?” she pauses, letting that hang in the air for a moment, and then suggests, “but it seems like you need someone to talk to?”

“i’m fine,” glimmer says. “trust me.” she skids the car to a halt in front of clove’s house. “bye,” glimmer says, her smile tight. “see you on monday.” she sounds almost dejected as clove gets out of the car, but clove doesn’t press her. as soon as clove’s feet touch the ground and the door’s shut, the car speeds away.

//

clove is getting ready for bed that night when she notices her phone buzz on the counter. she wipes her hands off on a towel to keep the extra moisturizer from getting on her phone, and flips it over to see one new message. she assumes it's from cato or calla, but then her phone buzzes again and her screen lights up and she sees the messages are from glimmer.

**glimmer** at 10:23 pm : maybe u were right

**glimmer** at 10:23 pm : maybe i should talk to some1

clove frowns at her phone. she doesn't know what to say. she’d feel almost bad about ignoring her, after this afternoon. and she already feels bad enough about being so rude to her.

**clove** at 10:24 pm : you can talk to me if you want.

**clove** at 10:25 pm : i'll listen.

**glimmer** at 10:25 pm : thanks clove

**glimmer** at 10:26 pm : now get some sleep so u don't fall asleep in mr crane's class tmorrw

**clove** at 10:26 pm : i will if you will :p 

glimmer doesn't reply after that, and clove plugs her phone in with a bit of a smirk left over on her face and she thinks that she might've been wrong about glimmer rosenthal.

//

clove arrives in class the next morning to find glimmer wearing a short yellow sundress and heels that might be taller than the empire state building. her legs are crossed, and she's retouching her lipstick in a small hand mirror. 

“hey,” clove says, sliding into her seat a second before the bell rings. 

“sleep well?” glimmer asks, without removing her gaze from the mirror. 

clove surprises herself by smiling and replying, “yeah, i did. you?” glimmer nods, snapping her hand mirror shut and putting it and the lipstick back into her makeup bag. she pulls a white and gold notebook out of her bag, opens it, and starts taking notes.

clove spends most of the class doodling in her notebook and staring at glimmer. what? glimmer really is hot. not that clove would ever admit it. 

//

“admit it, she's not as bad as you thought,” calla says as they're doing their warm up jog that afternoon for soccer practice. 

“maybe,” clove says. calla’s right, but clove would never give her the satisfaction of knowing that. it’d go straight to her head. 

calla shoots her a look and then changes the topic. “so, homecoming?”

clove brushes past her. “not going.”

calla sighs. “come on, clove,” she yells. “you’re not even going to have a little fun?” 

clove ignores her and focuses on the pounding of her feet as she runs. she likes the rhythm. it's almost calming, in a way.

“so there's no one special to ask you to homecoming?” someone beside her asks, and clove almost jumps. 

it's cato. the boys and girls soccer team do their warm ups together, and by running faster than calla, she'd caught up to him. 

“why are my friends the worst?” clove moans, pretending to be in distress. well. she’s only half-pretending. “no, _cato_ , there's no one special to ask me to homecoming.”

he wiggles his eyebrows. “not even one person?” he asks, and clove rolls her eyes for real now, and jogs ahead, all the while pretending that she's not thinking about the tall blonde that gives her butterflies in her stomach. 

//

glimmer comes over a little bit before seven. they’d planned a movie night. clove had (intentionally) made sure it was on a night her parents happened to be out of town. what? it’s not like she was having a _boy_ over.

once glimmer was settled in, and the popcorn was made, clove sat down on the couch. “so...what should we watch?”

glimmer put her phone down on the table. “something gory!” clove blinks at her. she shrugs. “what? i love horror.” it’s not really clove’s thing, but she might as well give it a try. 

and hey, even if she does spill the popcorn (and the ice cream) after the jump scares, at least it gives her an excuse to cling to glimmer’s arm during the scary parts.

//

clove stares at her phone, willing herself to well up the courage to send a text. it's one simple text, she tells herself. that's all you have to do. it's as she's doing this that her phone buzzes, and she looks down to see that glimmer has texted her.

**glimmer** at 7:42 pm : oh btw did i tell u last night????

**glimmer** at 7:43 pm : cato asked me to homecoming!!!!

clove throws her phone against the wall and stares at it for a moment. whatever. it's not like she cares. she wasn't going to go to homecoming anyway.

she can feel her lip quiver and her eyes begin to burn with tears. she's never going to see either of them again if she can help it. she'll tell her mom she's sick or something. whatever. it doesn't matter anymore. she leaves her phone there and falls face first onto the bed. it's only when she knows no one can hear her cry into her pillow that she begins to sob. she fucking hates them both. 

//

**glimmer** at 8:13 am : clove?

**glimmer** at 10:23 am : what did i do?

**glimmer** at 12:38 pm : why are you ignoring me?

**glimmer** at 1:08 pm : clove, pls, just send me like one message so i know ur alive.

**glimmer** at 7:56 pm : i'm sorry for whatever i did to upset you

**glimmer** at 11:34 pm : miss u

//

clove spends homecoming night alone in her room in her pajamas rewatching old friends reruns. it's the only way to distract herself, really. it's been her comfort routine for years. when she and fennel were little they used to do it after school when one of them had had a bad day, but with fennel off at school, clove doesn't have anyone to cheer her up but phoebe, rachel, monica, ross, chandler, and joey. which sounds more comforting than it is. maybe if they were actual people clove wouldn’t feel quite so betrayed.

she's just starting her sixth episode of the night when she hears a tapping on her window. she ignores it. it comes again. she gets up, ready to tell whatever squirrel or what have you to piss off when she sees a soaking wet glimmer in a pink homecoming dress, a wet sash that says “homecoming queen” and a sparkling crown standing outside her window. 

“what are you doing here?” clove asks, annoyed. didn't the universe inform her and cato that she wanted both of them to fuck off permanently? 

glimmer smiles at her. “i missed you at homecoming,” she says, tone kind of sad and forlorn.

“what's it matter to you?” clove asks, sullen. “ _cato_ was there.”

glimmer’s eyebrows furrow. “clove, that...that doesn't matter. cato took me, but...” she pauses for a long moment. “i wanted you to be there.” 

“so?” clove asks. “we all want a lot of things, glimmer.”

glimmer frowns at her. “you don't understand, clove,” she says. “i wanted you to be there.” there's something desperate in her eyes, and all of sudden, clove realizes. glimmer wanted _her_ there.

“hold on,” clove says, shutting her window and putting on the closest pair of shoes she can find before rushing downstairs and outside to the lawn where glimmer is waiting for her.

“i can't believe you walked here in the rain for me,” clove says. she's pressed up against glimmer, and somehow their combined body heat makes the rain feel a bit less cold. 

glimmer laughs. “well. i drove. i waited here in the rain for you, though.”

“maybe you're not the worst,” clove says with a bit of a laugh. she doesn't even care that she's getting all wet. 

glimmer grins, and even soaking wet, with mascara and eyeliner running down her face in wet black streaks, she's still gorgeous. “shut up and kiss me already,” she says, voice low and breathless. 

so clove does.


End file.
